LUBBOCK, Texas— After dropping the first two sets by tight 25-23 margins, the Colorado Mesa University volleyball team rallied back to claim a 5-set win (23-25, 23-25, 25-17, 25-17, 15-11) over Eastern New Mexico University their second of four matches this weekend at the Lubbock Christian University Chap Classic.  The Mavericks, who also had to rally from a 7-4 deficit in the decisive fifth set, are now 2-0 on the weekend and 4-2 on the season heading into a Friday afternoon match against Southwestern Oklahoma State, which also won a 5-set match earlier in the day over Texas Woman's.

That match was slated to start at 3 p.m. CDT (2 p.m. Mountain) but do the length of the earlier matches, will almost be certainly pushed back.

The Mavericks hit at a solid .269 clip in the fifth set and improved in that category throughout the entire match.  Defense was also a key as the Mavericks frustrated the Greyhounds into 39 hitting errors and just a .079 attack percentage for the match.  

Colorado Mesa also finished with a season-high 11 blocks and finished with a slight 66-62 edge in total digs.

Junior libero Taylor Woods had 21 of those while junior outside hitter MacKenzie Edwards finished with 12.  Edwards also had a team-high 13 kills to record her second double-double of the campaign.

Sophomore setter Samantha Ritter was just one dig shy of a second double-double of the weekend with 43 assists and nine digs.  She also added four kills and a pair of blocks.  The Gianinetti sisters also provided a big spark combining for 19 kills, 13 digs and seven blocks.  Hattie Gianinetti had 10 kills and five blocks while Megan Gianinetti had nine kills, eight digs and four service aces.

The Mavericks hit just. 086 and .088 in the opening two sets, respectively, but improved to .143 in the third as they were able to convert on an impressive 72 percent (13-18) of their side-out opportunities.  The Mavericks were down 7-6 early in that set but used an 8-2 run to seize control.  The Greyhounds would come back to within 14-12 before an Edwards kill sparked a 4-0 scoring run where she was at the service line.

The Mavericks were also down slightly (5-4) in the fourth set but watched the Greyhounds capitulate as they committed five straight miscues to hand the Mavericks a 9-5 lead.  CMU would also go on another 5-0 run later in the set by their own doing to build a double-figure (21-11) lead.

Cruising into the fifth set on high of momentum, the Mavericks would struggle to get out of the fifth-set gate and were quickly down 6-3 and 7-4 before the Gianinettis combined for three kills a 4-0 run that put the Mavericks up 8-7.

Eastern New Mexico's Brooklyn Beall would answer back with back-to-back kills as the Greyhounds took yet another lead, 9-8.  However, Hattie Gianinetti and Edwards answered with kills of their own, triggering a 5-0 run, capped by a Reed Jacobson service ace putting Mavericks firmly in control, 13-9.

The Greyhounds would then slice that deficit in half on Beall and Sarah Tuioti-Mariner kills before a Hattie Gianinetti block and Edwards kill finished off the comeback.

Live streaming and statistics of the entire tournament can be found through the Lady Chaps' tournament website, accessed by clicking here.